mousekakat

Gawd, I just adore this man!! Jim, you and Gayle are just special, special people! I'm blessed to be able to call you friend! Naomi

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I'm so glad it got there in time, I was worried it wouldn't quite make it. It appears that a certain husband thought that mail would get delivered without problem if he left it in the backseat of his car! Go figure, huh! I hope she likes the coins and the other goodies! It was a pleasure to send them to her! Naomi and Hanna

Hang in there, Puzzlefam! The economy is rough all over and bad things happen to good people, sadly enough! A lot of us never even got our missions or anyone saying that they were responsible for not sending them or why, at least you're trying to do the right thing! Things will get better soon! Merry Christmas, Naomi

This American in Sweden with Mexican grandparents just wanted to pop in and wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year and great caching throughout the new year! Merry Christmas! God Jul! Feliz Navidad! And most importantly... Peace to all! Fred! Paz! Naomi

I wonder if it would be possible for the mint to grind out the countries that are already there and let people custom order them with screenprinted country/city/etc names of what they want.... Naomi

Fantastic on the quick mail delivery on this one.... It bounced back to the sender at one stage. Small mail miracles do happen! Tis the season, Butterflylady!! I'm so glad it got there and in time, too!! I hope I don't let ya down with the contents and that you enjoy them! Naomi

SWEDEN!!!

You need to get together with Castleman, he does a killer victorian village, too, it's HUGE!! I wish I could say that I had the Christmas spirit, but alas, it's sorely missing. Tonight we tried to get the tree up, the kids were underfoot, everything spread over the living and dining room, my mood just kept getting worse and worse and in the end we sent the kids downstairs while I sat upstairs and tried to chill out and then made them a quick dinner and put them to bed. I just can't get in to it this year. Every year seems worse and worse and harder and harder. I'm ready to cancel Christmas Naomi Edited to add, we did take these today. Santa is wearing a full jacket made of wolf skin that was made in 1937, first time I had seen an "old world" Santa, he was pretty cool

Oh thank God!! Living as far north as we live we don't get light until 9 am and we're dark again by 15:30. I'm so ready for our 22 hour long summer days again!!! -5c, light snow over ice Naomi... N 61° 09.874 E 016° 51.041 Sweden

Well, beings that we're a multi-cultural family, we do a mix of US and Swedish traditions. It starts around noon, the stables that is next door to us always has a Christmas Eve party of sorts where they offer sleigh rides, pony rides, warm drinks and such, and most of the village shows up. The kids ride the ponies and we drink some mulled wine and eat gingerbread and then we head over to the grandparents' place . There we eat the Strange Swedish Holiday food, which consists of lots of fish, meatballs, little mini hot dogs, omelettes that are done in the oven and a couple of American dishes like green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole tossed in for good measure! We eat dinner there and sometimes, if there is time or if we're done in time, the kids will watch the Disney special that is shown here every Christmas Eve at 3:00 and has been shown for umpteen gazillion years here. After that we open gifts, eat a snack and dessert, and then head home, stuffed to the gills and with excited kids. Now we blend in the US traditions and the kids get out the special Santa Plate and Mug we have, and they place cookies and milk, and a carrot for the reindeer on the plate and FINALLY (thank God) go to bed. Mamma and pappa then get to chill for a while before putting out the Santa Gifts and filling the stockings and then off to bed we go! Here in Sweden they don't do a midnight mass as much as they do something at church called Julotta. It used to be done FIRST thing in the morning and all the farmers would race home afterwards and the first to get home would fire his gun to prove he was home. The first farmer to do so was guaranteed good luck in the following year's harvest and such. It used to be held extremely early, but not it's held at either 7 or 8 am on Christmas Morning. It's beautiful in the church, they don't use electric lights, they use only candles, and there are usually 3 or 4 brass chandeliers that are full of candles, the ends of the pews have candle holders and lit candles, the Christmas tree on the alter has candles and the wall sconces have candles. It's dim and cozy in the church, and the only light is from the nativity set, which has a light shining on it. Christmas songs are sung and the story of Christ's birth is told and it's very peaceful and beautiful. We get home and the kids get to open Santa presents and stockings and then we clean up a little bit The rest of Christmas day is pretty much spent relaxing! That is our Christmas here in Sweden! Naomi

This isn't my own card, but it was sent to me via email link. I thought it was just really pretty, be sure you click through all the way through to the end! Merry Christmas, everyone! Naomi, Micke, Hanna, and Caitlyn

I'm so glad that this thread popped back up to the top! A couple of months ago Hanna received one of these, a pink one, as a gift, and I just can't say how impressed I am with them! They are bigger than I thought they'd be and they have a lot more heft and weight to them! The sparkle is just gorgeous and Hanna carried it around for two days, after first doing the Hanna Happy Dance all over the living room floor, which consists of a little girl screaming, holding it and jumping like a madwoman! Can't recommend these enough, especially as gifts!! Naomi

OMG, I've never seen that one before, I LOVE IT!! I wonder if Degai has any left! It's wonderful! Naomi

I love the depth and color on this one!

My only comment would be to take as many as you can, but ONLY if you can move them along! Taking too many and then not being able to get them moving is almost as bad as them being stuck in vacation hell! Naomi

Keep the snow, DO NOT WANT!! we were close to 40 today, but the highs are getting ready to dip below freezing again. HATE snow... what the heck is this Texas gal doing in Sweden!! Naomi

There is a group of us here in Sweden that went in together on a jukebox coin but no one ordered many, so i don't know how it would go to trade for them with t he others.

For the record, mine has been both sent by us and ours to us has been received. Dakota's is on the way, too. Naomi

Forum burped!

Steph, I couldn't have said it better! Valerie and Lori are just exceptional women out there in the world! And thanks, also to Joni for the pathtag and Christmas card!!! Naomi

This was 2 days ago, it was -10c and blue skies and just gorgeous... about 14f outside. I'm ready for summer again, lol! Naomi

Why not get a cat to take with you in the truck? My ex and I had our cat, Tom-Tom, in the truck with us for more than 2 years with nary a problem! The only problem I had was when he would ride with his back paws on my leg and his front paw on my arm looking out the window and we'd hit a bump... then it was 20 claws digging into my arm and leg while he held on and I screamed in pain . A cat makes a great, great travelling buddy, a lot easier than a dog! We hid his box under the passenger seat and just scooped it as soon as he left a deposit . I really, really can't speak highly enough of having our cat with us! He really made the truck feel like home Naomi

Contact Oroborus, he does wire wrapping of coins and does just an incredibly beautiful job of it, too!

You know you're a geocoin addict when your husband calls and tells you the car has been broken in to and the first thing you do is send a text message back asking if your coins are still there! Naomi